Electrochemically active materials have been used to coat electrodes, which are employed in a variety of applications. Typically, such materials are an oxide of a metal. In general, methods to coat electrodes include dissolving a suitable metal salt in a solvent and applying the resulting solution onto a base electrode. The wetted electrode is then heated and the metal salts decompose to form a metal oxide. While forming the metal oxide, a large amount of the anionic portion of the metal salt can be trapped in the metal oxide coating on the electrode. The anionic portion of the metal salt, such as, for example, chlorine, increases the resistance of the coating and decreases the efficiency of the coated electrode. Improvements are needed for electrochemically active materials that are useful for coating electrodes and for methods of making these materials.